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Yahoo! My Yahoo! Mail More Yahoo! Services Account Options New User? Sign Up Sign In Help Yahoo! Search web search Home Singapore Asia Pacific World Business Entertainment Sports Technology Australia China India Indonesia Japan Malaysia Philippines Thailand Vietnam Hong Kong leader concedes defeat in reform debate AFP - Saturday, June 19 Send IM Story Print Hong Kong leader concedes defeat in reform debate HONG KONG (AFP) - – Hong Kong leader Donald Tsang on Friday conceded he had lost vital ground to the Chinese territory's pro-democracy camp after a much-derided performance in a landmark TV debate with the opposition. The rival camp saw new momentum for its campaign for universal suffrage in the self-governing region of China, following Thursday night's televised encounter between Chief Executive Tsang and Civic Party leader Audrey Eu. In self-mocking tones, Tsang said his performance in the first such TV debate was akin to the struggling South Koreans in a World Cup match won 4-1 by Argentina. "My wife said I couldn't even survive until half-time. She said if I couldn't even beat her in arguments at home, how could I win over a veteran barrister like Audrey Eu?" he told a packed audience at a Rotary luncheon. "But I tried my best," the former civil servant said. The city's democrats want a firm blueprint for universal suffrage in Hong Kong, a former British colony that returned to Chinese rule with the promise of broad autonomy in 1997. They have lambasted Tsang's latest reform plan, which stops well short of one-person-one-vote by proposing only an increase in the sizes of the Legislative Council and the body that elects the chief executive. The government will need the support of a two-third majority in the 60-seat legislature to secure passage of the reform plan in a vote on June 23, but the 23 pro-democracy lawmakers say they will block it. Tsang admitted that his current plan might come to naught, but vowed to keep cajoling the democrats to reach a compromise. "I think the negotiation will probably achieve nothing. Whether we can see a brighter morning will depend on whether political parties can put society's collective well-being ahead of their party interests," he said. Eu was widely credited with dominating Tsang in the debate, her quick-thinking courtroom style contrasting with the chief executive's plodding delivery and reliance on written notes. "How can your package bring us towards the ultimate goal of universal suffrage? I know you are Christian but we can't just rely on trust. Where is the blueprint? Is it like a promise written in water?" Eu asked at one point. The Hong Kong Standard described the debate as a "public relations disaster" for the government, as political commentators across the spectrum and snap polls picked Eu as the overwhelming winner. Lam Fai, a leader of the Post 80s, a group of university students and young professionals, said the campaign for universal suffrage had been strengthened. "Rather than changing the mind of his opponents, we think that Tsang has hardened the opposition to his reform plan following the debate," he said. At present, only half of Hong Kong's 60 legislative seats are directly elected. The rest are picked by so-called "functional constituencies", which consist mostly of pro-Beijing professional elites. Hong Kong's chief executive is chosen by a separate election committee whose 800 members are handpicked by Beijing. Under the latest proposal, the government wants to raise the number of directly lawmakers by five and increase the number of election committee members to 1,200 in 2012 to pave the way for eventual universal suffrage. But critics said Tsang's faltering performance could give Beijing pause for thought, as centrist democrats push for 10 more directly elected seats. "I think there could be major changes in Beijing's stance in these coming days," City University of Hong Kong political analyst James Sung told AFP. "They may choose to adopt the moderate democrats' proposal, seeing that there is no hope for the reform plan to be passed by lawmakers," he said. 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